Bridgewater’s Better Bean owners take over Lakeville coffee shop

Corlyn Voorhees The Enterprise corlyn_ent

Thursday

Mar 7, 2019 at 10:23 AM

LAKEVILLE — Better Bean Coffee Co. has made its way to Lakeville after the recent acquisition of Somethin’s Brewin’ Book Cafe.

Better Bean co-owners Dean Wile and Jason Hebert officially took over Somethin’s Brewin’, located at the intersection of Route 18 and Route 105, last Friday, and spent the weekend transitioning to Better Bean’s coffee program.

“We’re far enough away from the Better Bean that it feels like we’re separate, but we’re close enough that it still feels like home,” Wile said.

The pair took over the lease for the town-owned building, which served as the town library from 1914 until 2005 until the new library was built, from former Somethin's Brewin' owner, Lakeville-resident Lorraine Carboni. Carboni, who currently works as the town coordinator, first opened Somethin’s Brewin’ in 2007.

It’s been a long-time goal of theirs to have three strategically-placed locations, Wile said, and when they learned of the opportunity to take over Somethin’s Brewin’ from the two coffee shops’ shared coffee roaster in Plymouth, they jumped at the chance to open their second location.

“This has been more of an organic transition,” Wile said. “It’s presented itself to us rather than us having to go out and pursue something. It kind of more found us, which I feel is always a good sign. That means that that’s a good next step."

Carboni wasn't actively looking to sell the business, she said, but had mentioned to the roaster that she would entertain a conversation with anyone looking to expand their coffee shop business. When Wile and Hebert, who perfectly fit the bill, approached her, she decided to hand over the reins in order to focus on her municipal career.

"Through our customer base, we were able to build this beautiful coffee house and community connection location and I did not want to see that go away," she said. "Jason and Dean wanted to help carry on and build on what we've already created. To me, it was a really good match."

Hebert and Wile said the coffee shop's atmosphere is what drew them to the spot.

“To me, it’s very homey and warm and welcoming in this place,” Hebert said. “There’s an attention to quality you don’t really find in other coffee places that are just churning people out.”

And true to Carboni's mission, Hebert said the goal is to give members of the community a place to relax and mingle.

“We want to have a community space in these locations,” Hebert said. “Somebody had mentioned to us, ‘Oh, are you going to put a drive-thru? Do X, Y and Z?’ That’s never been the goal. We don’t want to be Dunkin Donuts, we don’t want to be Starbucks. We want to be our own independent place that’s community-focused. We want people to come in here and have a conversation with each other. It’s a place for people to politicize, philosophize, date.”

Wile added: “I can’t tell you how many dates we’ve had over at the Better Bean – and break-ups!”

Somethin’s Brewin’ patrons can still expect to see the same decorum, including the bookcases full of books lining the walls, but Wile and Hebert do plan to make some changes.

They’ve already introduced a points-based digital rewards system (unfortunately, the program can’t be merged with the rewards program at Better Bean, Wile noted) and have transitioned to Better Bean’s coffee program. They also plan to bring in more environmentally-friendly products like compostable cups and organic ingredients like at Better Bean, Hebert said.

Hebert also wants customers to know that the existing team at Somethin's Brewin' is staying put.

“Tamara’s food isn’t going anywhere!” he said.“It’s going to be the same great place it’s always been.”

Now that they're settling in, Hebert said they're just hoping to get the word out.

“I think the communities we’re in want to support local businesses,” Wile said. “We want to be a local business. This is why this was so appealing to us – because it’s a true local coffee shop.”

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